Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s BY THE SEA Starts Filming in Malta This Week

Angelina Jolie looks poised to be in this year’s Oscar race as a director with the World War II POW story Unbroken, opening Christmas Day, but it looks like she’s going to shoot a whole other movie before that film hits theaters. It was announced last month that Jolie would write, direct, and star in By the Sea alongside partner Brad Pitt for Universal, and now word comes that production on the pic actually gets underway today in Malta. By the Sea is commandeering a beach in Malta for shooting purposes until November 10th, meaning Jolie will have wrapped the pic by the time the press tour for Unbroken begins in December. More after the jump.

News of the production start for By the Sea comes courtesy of the Malta Independent (via THR), which notes that construction of sets on Mgarr ix-Xini beach is already underway. It’s unclear if the entirety of By the Sea will be shot on this beach or if stage work will be necessary at another location, but the length of time the beach will be closed signals that the bulk of filming will likely be done by November 10th.

This is a smart move on Jolie’s part, because she will no doubt have her hands full with the promotion and Oscar campaign for Unbroken starting in December until the end of February. Pitt may also be on the Oscar trail, as his own World War II drama Fury is a potential contender.

Plot details for By the Sea are still under wraps, but it’s described as an “intimate, character-driven drama”. This jibes with the minimalist aspect of the production in Malta, and I can’t help but think that Jolie and Pitt may be making their own Before Sunrise-esque picture. The two are also producing the film, which Universal has agreed to distribute. It will likely see a release sometime in 2015.

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